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Four Corners: Quiet Around The Smith Center, For Now
August 10, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers
Instead, the hardwood in the Smith Center has undergone its annual maintenance and refinishing, a process made special this year by the announcement that the playing surface will be named in honor of Williams in the building named after his mentor. The renamed court will be unveiled privately at a basketball team reunion on Aug. 24-25 and publicly at Late Night With Roy in October.
The balls will soon be bouncing again in the Smith Center when the 2018-19 team returns to campus to prepare for its exhibition trip to the Bahamas next week.
Carolina basketball makes news year-round. Here are some of the latest Tar Heel hoops news & notes some may have missed recently.
1. NEWS & NOTES
• Carolina's 2018-19 players completed the second session of summer school last week and headed out of town for some time at home after a summer of classes, workouts with strength coach Jonas Sahratian and pickup games.
• The Tar Heels will reconvene in Chapel Hill later this weekend for practices prior to leaving for the Bahamas next week to play a series of exhibition games. Look for exclusive, behind-the-scenes coverage of the trip from GoHeels.com's Adam Lucas and the GoHeels Productions video team.
• The NCAA announced a number of significant changes to its rules structure this week, though there is some debate as to their potential efficacy.
• Carolina announced it would name the playing court at the Smith Center after Roy Williams:
The University of North Carolina is naming the playing floor at the Dean E. Smith Center after head coach Roy Williams: https://t.co/N9koaxT2DK pic.twitter.com/ElU5Kzgwnt
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) August 2, 2018
• "As it should be," tweeted senior guard Kenny Williams and wrote The Argyle Report of Williams' honor.
2. LAST WEEK
• Roy Williams spoke with the Sporting News, describing why he's glad the renamed court will be unveiled at a players-only reunion:
"That's pretty special for me, because the first people who really see it will be our former players," Williams said. "That's pretty dadgum good."
• Here's exclusive footage of Carolina's fourth summer practice:
Summer Practice 4️⃣: Always working pic.twitter.com/Ns1nw37QFU
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) August 5, 2018
• Current & former Tar Heels faced off later in practice:
2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣4️⃣ or 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣8️⃣#CarolinaFamily is always HOME in the Smith Center pic.twitter.com/LFod3mmURS
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) August 9, 2018
• The NCAA continued its #MMBest5 social media tournament, and the Tar Heel team of Kenny Smith, Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, James Worthy and Tyler Hansbrough advanced to the Final Four with a narrow win over Indiana.
(1) UNC takes down (2) Indiana and becomes the first #MMBest5 Final Four team! pic.twitter.com/1ozcSR48TX
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) August 8, 2018
• Jones Angell and Adam Lucas discussed the Roy Williams Court announcement and visited with Milwaukee Buck forward Tyler Zeller in the Carolina Insider podcast:
3. 2018-19 SEASON TIDBITS
• Sports Illustrated's Emily Caron featured incoming freshman Coby White as a potential contributor to the Tar Heel backcourt this season, writing:
"It'll take some time for White to find his fit in Williams's offense, but his versatility as a combo-guard will certainly be an asset. Once he adjusts to the speed of NCAA play, White will be able to use his explosiveness to get buckets—and to get them often. He can without a doubt get the ball to the basket, whether it's at the rim or a quick-release jumper."
• White's classmate, fellow freshman Nassir Little, conducted a Q&A with fans on the team's Instagram account:
4. TAR HEELS IN THE PROS
• The Brooklyn Nets officially announced the signing of Theo Pinson:
Welcome to the Nets family. @tpinsonn pic.twitter.com/8q1jhvlEZ1
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) August 6, 2018
• Michael Jordan donated $7 million to help build a health clinic that will serve low-income residents of Charlotte.
• Entering his 21st NBA season, Vince Carter has perfected the art of aging gracefully, writes Sports Illustrated.
• Harrison Barnes made the most of his trip to South Africa for the NBA Africa Game. Marvin Williams also took part in the game.
• Joel Berry II is excited about his opportunity to play with the Los Angeles Lakers.
